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Picking the ideal Porsches is no easy task thanks to the manufacturer’s history of excellence. But Rob Griffin has identified his favourite five.

The beloved Porsche is the ultimate supercar in many people’s eyes – and for good reason. There’s the eye-catching designs, fantastic engineering and high levels of performance.

In fact, let’s be clear: there aren’t any really bad Porsches. Sure, there are the odd looking ones – yes, Cayenne, I’m looking at you – but they are all fantastic pieces of machinery.

With the latest arrivals being as cherished as those from days past, we have now leafed from the history books to select five of the best.

Porsche 356

Porsche 356

This demands a location on the list. The aerodynamic, beautifully styled 356 was the 1st production automobile made by Porsche, appearing from the late 1940s and staying around till the mid-1960s. More powerful versions followed, although ferdinand Ferry Porsche, son of the company founder, played a vital role in the design of this machine, which initially had 40 horsepower from a modified VW Beetle engine. It still looks as eye-catching today since it did almost 70 in the past, although to possess one now would cost you around £70,000.

Porsche 911

Porsche 911

This replaced the 356 in 1964 and was a fast hit. Of all of the Porsche designs down the years this is arguably the most recognisable. The two-door, high-performance machine has seen a lot of incarnations on the years, like the innovative Targa model which arrived in the mid-1960s and sported a removable roof panel. Other popular versions have included the 911 Turbo and 911 Carrera. The latest 911 – which costs between £70,000 and £140,000 – received this glowing accolade by Top Gear: When you consider performance, price, economy and emissions, this is actually the world’s best sports car.

Porsche 928

Porsche 928

The theory behind the 928 was to create a machine that had the power and poise of a 911 but with even more refinement and luxury thrown in. Porsche executives wanted so that it is the sports car in which you would be comfortable driving long distances. The front engine, water-cooled design didn’t go down well with many different hard-core Porsche enthusiasts, who also weren’t very keen on the bold styling and innovative pop-up headlights. However, the 928 did win wider acclaim and was named European Car of the Year for 1978. Production continued before the mid-1990s, meaning it was portion of the scene to have an impressive 18 years.

Porsche Cayman

Porsche Cayman

One of the newest machines on our list, the Cayman combination of Porsches made its debut less than a decade ago. It really has been praised for being one of the best-handling sports cars now available, as well as clearly being among the finest-looking coupes available on the market. There are three versions available: the Cayman at around the £40,000 mark; the Cayman S that will set you back a further £10,000; and also the fantastically powerful Cayman GTS, which can move from -62mph in less than five seconds and contains a top speed of around 175mph. Phenomenal.

Porsche Boxster

Porsche Boxster

Amazingly, it’s been the best part of two decades since the first-generation Boxster arrived on the scene. This mid-engined, two-seater was the 1st of the modern era road-going Porsches that had been actually designed to be a roadster. The most recent incarnation of the Boxster, which has been totally revised as compared to the long-running original design, costs between £38,000 and £46,000 depending on the specifications chosen. However, older models can be gathered cheaply. In fact, a 10-year-old example can be obtained for around the £5,000 mark. Classy – and affordable.

Dating in Southern California is infamously difficult. Though there are seemingly trillions of excited singles out there, finding and courting the right one is improbably taxing. The key to making a great first impression and then maintaining that excitement is to be creative, whimsical and smart. If that doesn’t sound like you, maybe you should be thinking of making that move to a less challenging city, however, if you think you can step into those shoes, I have a couple of hints and suggestions for you.

While the stereotypical Los Angeles lady will judge you on your car, 99% of them will not. They will, however, judge you on your taste in cars (and everything else.) And they will with good reason. Your good taste and fine judgment will illustrate to your potential sweetheart that you are a man of class, even if you are not a man of success quite yet. That’s why a great date idea is to take a girl on a test drive of the car you want. May I please suggest something from the new and inspired armada of Nissans? The all new Altima is the very essence of perfection and taste, as you and your lovely date will no doubt soon find out.

The great thing about taking a young lady on a test drive of a fancy car is that you’re showing her the perfect marriage of practicality and whimsy, and that’s not an easy feat. Add that to the fact that you will both be getting a rush of excitement as soon as you pump your food on the pedal, and you have all of the ingredients for a great, foodless date. Oh yeah, take her out for dinner after. You don’t have to spend a lot of money, especially in Los Angeles, in order to find the perfect meal to accompany your beautiful date. If you’re in the market for a new Altima, or you just want to impress a lady, go online to either Alhambra Nissan or www.downtownnissan.com and give her something to talk to her friends about!

If an impromptu test drive isn’t quite your cup of tea, it’s always classy and interesting to take your lucky date out to appreciate all of the wonderful nature that Los Angeles County has to offer. This could be as simple as the iconic Griffith Observatory or as adventurous as a long and beautiful hike through the Santa Monica Mountains. If you’re on a bit of a time crunch, or for some reason, your new beau or belle doesn’t want to hike deep into the wilderness with you, Griffith Park offers a diverse array of activities and sites that will have her singing your praise and you saving money for that dinner later on.

Remember, in order to get the dreamy and exciting waves of romance undulating, you have to do something out of the ordinary. In a city of over ten million people, that’s not an easy thing to do.

BMW has prepared its customers for its exotic i8 plug-in hybrid and pure electric i3 for quite a while now. However, for more mainstream electric power appeal, it now plans to present an electrically augmented SUV, the X5 plug-in hybrid (PHEV) it is going to reveal on the New York auto show.

The BMW Concept X5 eDrive uses a 95-hp electric motor sandwiched between the engine and the eight-speed automatic transmission in place of a standard torque converter. Instead of BMW’s lineup of powerful six-cylinder engines present in other X5s, this one utilizes a turbocharged 2.-liter four-cylinder engine, putting out 245 hp.

BMW claims a maximum electric range in E-mode of 15 to 20 miles, which it says will cover 80 percent of X5 drivers’ daily trips. BMW says its target is 40 MPGe, although it’s premature to rate the X5 PHEV’s fuel economy. Keep in mind that boosting fuel economy in the gas hog saves more fuel than squeezing every last drop out of an econobox if the idea of a plug-in hybrid SUV appears like ordering Diet Coke with the Whopper.

Visit our help guide alternative vehicles and fuels.

The X5 eDrive’s big 9 kWh battery pack occupies the space where some X5s have their third-row seat, so the X5 PHEV will be available only as being a five seater. The battery also raises the cargo floor about an inch higher than in other X5s. It adds about 500 pounds for a total around 5,000 pounds, BMW says. Using a conventional transmission, it will retain a towing capacity of 4,000 to 5,000 pounds.

The X5 eDrive utilizes a 3.3-kW onboard charger, which can fully recharge battery on standard household 120v current within eight hours, or four hours utilizing a 240-volt, Level 2 electric car charger.

The X5 plug-in hybrid (PHEV) has as many as nine driving modes; It has BMW’s now ubiquitousSport and luxury, and Eco Pro modes, which govern drivetrain and other performance parameters, and also Normal, Max E-drive, and E-mode that govern the hybrid system.

In Comfort and Normal modes, the X5 eDrive operates such as an ordinary hybrid, starting off on electric power as much as as much as 42 mph, as long as you don’t dip too hard in the accelerator. Then it starts the gas engine to provide more power. By boosting electric power, Eco Pro Max and mode eDrive maximize fuel efficiency. E-mode is for use within cities where internal combustion driving will not be allowed or is superfluous, plus it gives this X5 a top-notch speed of about 74 mph in electric mode. Additionally, it offers a Save Battery mode, if you want to save a full battery charge for later use. In Sport mode, the electric drivetrain can’t power the car alone and is only used like a power booster, giving the auto a total of 270 hp and 300 lb.-ft. of torque. Like other BMWs, the car reverts to Comfort mode with every restart.

In case you have a destination mapped, where topographic GPS mapping data is available in Europe, the drivetrain will get accustomed to upcoming terrain. So, if this knows you will discover a descent coming where it might recharge using regenerative braking, it will drain the battery more climbing hills. It is the first plug-in hybrid that will partially recharge the battery on the fly, when it strategically determines that doing so won’t hurt fuel economy.

BMW emphasizes the Concept X5 eDrive is really a concept, but says it can definitely go deep into production and also be launched “worldwide,” sometime after 2014. BMW representatives say to expect pricing in the neighborhood of a high-end X5, or between $70,000 and $80,000.

Yes, its full name could be a mouthful, nevertheless the Range Rover has long been an icon among luxury SUVs. It couples the ambience and feature-rich convenience of an ultra-luxury sedan using the off-road savvy of a true four-wheel-drive SUV. And the cur­rent model is really a radically updated flagship that’splush and comfy, and loaded with advanced technology.

Major changes for this particular fourth-generation model include weight-saving aluminum unibody construction, a switch to a supercharged V6 as the standard engine instead of a V8, as well as the latest iteration of Rover’s terrain-adapting electronics.

Overall, this stately coach emphasizes tranquility over dexterity. The 340-hp V6 and excellent eight-speed automatic transmission provide effortless power. We averaged 17 mpg on premium fuel, which isn’t great but still beats most rivals.

A family car can mean many things, but if you want a car that your entire family can get the most out of, you have to start by considering each member’s individual needs. The very first question to ask is who will be driving the car? Are there multiple drivers in your family? Maybe you and your spouse will both use the car to get to work, your teenager will use it to visit friends on the weekends, and your nanny will use it to pick up the kids from school on some days. You’ll have to consider the individual needs of each of these drivers. First, how far will you be and your spouse be commuting to work? Do you need something that gets good gas mileage or are you driving a relatively short distance and okay with a larger vehicle that gets more standard mileage? Do you have trouble seeing out of large cars and need something with seats that can be raised higher than normal?

What about your teenager? Do you want to invest in a car that’s brand new for someone that hasn’t been driving very long and has a higher risk of accident, not to mention higher insurance rates for a new car? These are all things you’ll have to take into consideration before jumping into making a purchase. A salesperson at Nissan Los Angeles dealership Nissan Redlands can help you find a car that will fit the needs of all your family members, young and old. You can visit their website, metronissanredlands.com, and get an idea of what they have available before you visit. Then stop by the car lot to talk to someone about your options for the perfect family car and take one for a test drive today.

Distracted driving awareness month can be over. In the Lifesavers Conference on Highway Safety held this year in Nashville, Tenn., officers spoke about the different ways they are making an effort to ticket texting offenders although enforcement of the laws has become a priority for police officers all over the country.

When distracted driving moved to the forefront as one of the most critical driver safety issues some time ago, there was concern over the way to enforce all of the new laws that were striking the books. Many drivers just kept texting, thinking that the laws were not enforced. But with motivation and experience, police are finding creative ways to make certain drivers know they mean business.

Here are several ways you may get caught should you drive distracted.

Photo: Carlos Fernandez / NHTSA

The Tennessee Highway Patrol is using a tractor-trailer to have a bird’s eye view into cars trying to find texters as well as other offenders. The truck is just not unmarked, but they found that distracted drivers often do not spot the 18-wheeler hovering beside them.

Police in Danbury, Conn., among other cities, are searching for higher vantage points to look down on drivers to discover inside the cabin at what they are doing making use of their phones.

States includingConnecticut and California, and New York ban the use of mobile devices even when you are stopped in a traffic light. Police can certainly ticket those drivers just by patrolling streets on foot.

74 percent of tickets given out during the distracted driving police force period were from unmarked vehicles, so just because you don’t notice a police officer doesn’t mean there isn’t one nearby in Massachusetts.

There is no tolerance if you obtain a distracted driving ticket in most states. If you contest and check out court, officers are working to be certain they have enough details within the report to actually will lose.

The government and police realize the only way to end this epidemic is to crack down hard and their new national enforcement campaign “U Drive. U Text. U Pay.” is an effort to do that. Fines in some states are approximately $150. If you get caught more than once, new York, for example, adds five points on your license on top of the stiff fine, which means you can easily lose your right to drive.

Simple answer: Hang up and drive. If you must text, pull over to a good location and possess at it.

We were very happy to report in Homemade Motor Fuel Through Wood Gasification that our experiments concerning the application of wood scraps for vehicle motor fuel showed promise. But little did we realize, at that time, just how well the unlikely type of solid energy would work in a liquid world.

In short, for a total cost of approximately $125 – as well as a fair quantity of cutting and welding – we’ve put together an effective alternative fuel power system. Besides our wood gas truck move in the future as reliably and smoothly just like any conventionally powered automobile, it can so at zero fuel cost!

(Click here and here for downloadable versions from the construction illustrations.)

A Straightforward Process

Here’s how the system works: Wood scraps (we use chunks that are greater than sawdust or shavings, but smaller than a 6 period of 2 X 4) are contained in a modified boiling water tank, and rest on a cone-shaped, cast-refractory hearth. The recycled vessel is airtight except for a spring-loaded and sealed fill lid, a capped lighting aperture, and an inlet port (the very last is simply a two-inch brass swing check valve, which allows the draw developed by the engine to pull controlled amounts of air into the firebox).

Incoming atmosphere is directed through a series of holes drilled into one shoulder of the discarded wheel rim (which happens to be girdled with a circular band of strap metal and fastened to the bottom of the tank), and supports combustion in the vicinity of the hearth. As the fuel in that area burns, it consumes the oxygen within the air – creating carbon dioxide and water vapor – and forms a bed of glowing charcoal, which collects over a grate suspended from chains several inches below the hearth assembly. (Simultaneously, a heat-induced decomposition zone is produced right on top of the combustion region, driving gases from, and carbonizing, the wood just before its incineration.)

The mixture of CO2 and moisture – in addition to some creosote-is then drawn through a choker (positioned in between the hearth as well as the charcoal grate) and forced into the embers at the lower part of the tank before leaving the gasifier. The choke serves as an aura restricter which blends the various vapors and directs them through the glowing coals, where they’re reduced to the combustible gases deadly carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and – in small amounts – methane. The final product also includes a good deal of nitrogen, in addition to some unconverted CO 2 and traces of ash and tar.

The carbon dioxide and nitrogen are inert, and the like non-fuels pose no threat to the powerplant. However, the tar and ash needs to be removed from the gas or they may produce deposits, possibly resulting in engine damage. So, to clean the fuel, the smoke is first routed through a liquid-cooled densifier (a multitubed heat exchanger flanked by a water jacket and plumbed in to a junk automobile air conditioning condenser that’s mounted in front of the existing radiator), which precipitates moisture and residue from the gas. It passes to a tubular filter that’s [1] filled with strands of commercial air cooling filament, woven transport padding, or a similar material that won’t disintegrate, rust, or burn, and [2] equipped with perforated flame traps at its entrance and its exit.

If you’re like me, you can’t wait until that first day of Spring, that first day you thrust your windows open and let the cool but warming breeze in and the birds chirp and it looks like you may have made it through the worst of it after all. But until that day, there are a lot of cold blues to worry about. So if you’re in the market for a new car, or just want to be, you should consider one of these used car options to get through the winter doldrums. They will be sure to bring you a little bit of spring before the actual calendar flips over to March. Try one of these on for size!

Dodge Challenger

If you want to beat the winter blues, you go muscle or you might as well stay home, and if you are gonna go muscle, you might as well get a Challenger, the King of all modern muscle cars. You don’t have to get a brand new one either, there are going to be plenty of them on the used car market, and you can see them at used cars costa mesa or online at http://mcpeekdodge.com. These puppies pack a punch and will get you feeling like it’s summer 365 days per year. If you want to beat the ice and snow while not even being able to drive in the ice and snow, the Challenger is your move, and should not break the bank.

VW Bug Convertible

These things are both fun to drive, and unique to look at. They are zippy and peppy and easy on the fuel economy and also have a place to hold some flowers! How about that. And if you’re going to go with a bug, might as well ward off winter’s icy grip with getting the convertible version. In fact, any convertible will help with beating the winter away, but the Bug convertible offers a little bit of extra feeling of summer because the Bug itself is so summery. You should easily be able to find one of these on the used car market, so find one, get it, and enjoy it. The German engineering that goes into these little road doggies is also going to help you down the road in more ways than one.

Acura RSX

What’s so special about the Acura RSX you might ask? This thing is worth its used car money with first pedal to the medal on the highway. These things jump and kick and are awesome. Not only that, but they are from the Honda family so if properly maintained they will last forever and also, with their front wheel drive power, can handle a little ice and snow if that’s what Mother Nature throws at you. They have a little engine that could and will, and it’s actually not even that little. The RSX is a fun car to beat out the winter doldrums any day of the week.

The parking brake in your car is merely that – a parking brake. Not much of a handbrake. No e-brake. Not an emergency brake. In fact, in the event of an emergency, the last control in the car that you want to touch will be the parking brake. Locking the back wheels at any speed will result in a spin.

Once I moved to america I was appalled at the amount of people (read : it is apparently everyone) don’t know the standard things about the parking brake. Like the reasons you use it when you’re stopped at an intersection.

Anyone?

Anyone?

If someone rear-ends you in an intersection, and also you only have your foot around the regular brake, two things can happen, I’ll let you know why -. Which means that (2) you will either run into the vehicle in front, or worse – roll to the intersection into oncoming or crossing traffic, (1) you are going to jerk your foot from the brake due to the rear impact.

– if you have the parking brake on, your foot coming off the brakes makes no difference, and the distance you will be pushed will be considerably reduced, and as an added bonus, you won’t roll anywhere.

When I moved to the united states and had to stay a driving test, the examiner thought I was bit funny inside the head to make use of the parking brake at every intersection, until I explained these to him, at which point he explained I’d never heard of that before. And then he was not just a driving instructor – he was a tester/examiner! Explains a great deal about how people drive around here.

I went on to explain to him why I always waited to make across traffic with my wheels straight too. It’s the same principal. As well as your wheels are turned, you’ll be shunted across the road into oncoming traffic, when someone runs into you from behind. At least when the wheels are straight you’ll go basically straight ahead. Again – total confusion from the examiner.

Here’s another tip for automatic gearboxes – the pawl that drops in to the notch externally of the main clutch housing when you placed the car in Park will not be very strong. Certainly not strong enough to hold the car stationary on anything other than level ground. Sure – you only throw the car in park when on hills and everywhere, but that is slowly eating away the edge of that particular notch then one day, the parking pawl will slip out and your car will require off with the gear shifter firmly in P. So here’s the tip : utilize the parking brake every time your park – it reduces the probability of the P setting inside the gearbox stopping on you 1 day.

What’s worrying about all of this was illustrated when we went along to a ‘new owners’ evening at the dealership where we bought our car. It absolutely was one of those freebies to explain the nuances of this particular brand, with free drinks and snacks, with the hope that we’d buy accessories or something. Anyway, one driver asked when should I take advantage of the emergency brake? (aagh – it’s not just a fucking EMERGENCY brake! ) The expert through the dealership said – verbatim – Never – I don’t know why they even bother putting them in cars anymore.

Apart from your car’s tyres and seats, the suspension is the prime mechanism that separates your bum (arse for the American) from the road. It also prevents your car from shaking itself to pieces. No matter how smooth you think the highway is, it’s a bad, bad place to propel over a huge amount of metal at high speed. So, we rely upon suspension. People who travel on underground trains wish that those vehicles relied on suspension too, but they don’t and that’s why the ride is so harsh. Actually it’s harsh because underground trains have zero lateral suspension to speak of. So, so does the entire train, and it’s passengers, as the rails deviate side-to-side slightly. In a car, the rubber with your tyre is great for this little problem, while all the other suspension parts do the rest.

In it’s most basic form, suspension is made up of two basic components:

Springs

These come in three types. These are coil springs, torsion bars and leaf springs. Coil springs are what many people are familiar with, and are actually coiled torsion bars. Leaf springs are what you would find on many American cars up to about 1985 and almost all heavy-duty vehicles. They appear like layers of metal connected to the axle. The layers are called leaves, hence leaf-spring. The torsion bar naturally is a bizarre little contraption which gives coiled-spring-like performance depending on the twisting properties of a steel bar. It’s used in the suspension of VW Karmann and Beetles Ghias, air-cooled Porsches (356 and 911 until 1989 after they went to springs), and the rear suspension of Peugeot 205s amongst other cars. As an alternative to having a coiled spring, the axle is attached to one end of the steel shaft. The other end is slotted into a tube and held there by splines. It twists the shaft along it’s length, which in turn resist, as the suspension moves. Now image that same shaft but instead of being straight, it’s coiled up. You’re actually inducing a twisting in the shaft, all the way down the coil, as you press on the top of the coil. Believe me, that’s what is happening, though i know it’s hard to visualise. There’s an entire section further down the page specifically on torsion bars and progressive springs.

Recommended link: Trolley Jacks from SGS

Shock absorbers

These dampen the vertical motion induced by driving your car along a rough surface and so should technically be referred to by their proper name – dampers. When your car only had springs, it would boat and wallow along the road until you got physically sick and had to have out. It might be a travelling deathtrap until the incessant vibration caused it to collapse.

Shock absorbers (dampers) perform two functions. As mentioned above, they absorb any larger-than-average bumps in the road so that the upward velocity in the wheel over the bump isn’t transmitted on the car chassis. But secondly, they maintain the suspension at as full a travel as possible to the given road conditions – they make your wheels planted on the road.

You desire more technical terms? Technically they are velocity-sensitive hydraulic damping devices – in other words, the faster they move, the more resistance there is certainly to that movement. They work in conjunction with the springs. The spring allows the wheel to go by the road, moving up and down. The kinetic energy of that moving unsprung mass is transmitted to the damper where it is dissipated. The damper performs this by forcing gas or oil via a constriction valve (a small hole). Adjustable shock absorbers let you change the size of this constriction, and thus control the rate of damping. The lesser the constriction, the stiffer the suspension. Phew! ….so you thought they merely leaked oil didn’t you?

Find Mustang suspension kits at AmericanMuscle.com

A contemporary coil-over-oil unit

coilover car suspension

The photo here shows a typical modern coil-over-oil unit. This is an all-in-one system that carries the two spring and also the shock absorber. The type illustrated here is very likely to be an aftermarket item – it’s unlikely you’d get this amount of adjustment in your regular passenger car. The adjustable spring plate enables you to make the springs looser and stiffer, whilst the adjustable damping valve can be used to adjust the rebound damping of the shocks. More sophisticated units have adjustable compression damping as well as a remote reservoir. When you don’t typically get this measure of engineering on car suspension, most motorbikes do have preload, spring and rebound tension adjustment. See the section later on within this page in regards to the ins and outs of complex suspension units.

Suspension bushes

[bushes]

These are the basic rubber grommets which separate most of the areas of your suspension from one another. They’re used at the link of an A-Arm with the subframe. They’re used on anti-roll bar mountings and links. They’re used all over the place, and from the factory, I can almost guarantee they’re made of rubber. Rubber doesn’t last. It perishes inside the cold and splits inside the heat. Perished, split rubber was what brought the Challenger space shuttle down. It’s extremely important for your car’s handling, in addition to your own safety, that these small things are in good condition, even though this is just one of those little parts which hardly anyone pays any attention to. My advice? Replace them with polyurethane or polygraphite bushes – they are hard-wearing and last a heck of your lot longer. If you’re into presenting your car at shows, they appear better than the naff little black rubber jobs, and. Like all suspension-related items though, bushes really are a tradeoff between performance and comfort. The harder the bush compound, the less comfort in the cabin. You pays your money and makes your decision.

Suspension bushings are an essential part of your suspension system when you have an off-road vehicle similar to a Jeep Wrangler.

Suspension Types

In their infinite wisdom, auto producers have lay out to baffle us together with the sheer a few different types of suspension available for both front and rear axles. The main groupings are independent and dependent suspension types but this naming convention really only applies to traditional or analogue suspension systems. Even independent systems are typically joined across the car by an anti-roll bar and so are not truly independent.

From about 2006 onwards, the concept of fully independent suspension systems did start to appear on cars where the anti-roll bar was replaced by sophisticated computer software associated with some form of electronically-controlled suspension. Start to see the section afterwards dealing with digital suspension systems for more information.

When you know of any not listed here, e-mail me and let me know – I would like this page to get as complete as possible.

Front suspension – dependent systems

So-called as the front wheel’s suspension systems are physically linked. For everyday use, they are, within a word, shite. I hate to be offensive, but they are. There is only one form of dependent system you need to know about. It is basically a solid bar under the front of the car, kept in place by leaf springs and shock absorbers. If you discover a car with one of these you should sell it off to a museum, though it’s still common to find these on trucks. They haven’t been applied to mainstream cars for years for 3 main reasons:

Shimmy – since the wheels are physically linked, the beam can be set into oscillation if one wheel hits a bump and the other doesn’t. It sets up a gyroscopic torque about the steering axis which starts to turn the axle left-to-right. This in turn feeds back to amplify the original motion, because of the axle’s inertia.

Weight – or maybe more specifically unsprung weight. Solid front axles weigh a great deal and either need sturdy, heavy leaf springs or heavy suspension linkages to have their wheels on your way.

Alignment – simply put, you can’t adjust the alignment of wheels on a rigid axis. From your factory, they’re perfectly set, but if the beam gets even slightly distorted, you can’t adjust the wheels to make up.

offroading

I frequently get pulled-up on the above mentioned statements from people jumping to defend solid-axle suspension. They generally send me pictures similar to this and claim it’s the very best suspension system for off-road use. I actually have to admit, for off-road stuff, it probably is pretty good. But let’s be realistic; how many individuals with these vehicles ever go off-road? The nearest they come to getting maximum wheel deflection is when the mother double-parks the thing with one wheel on the kerb during the school-run…….

You may not plan to have a car accident or have your car stolen, but it happens.

From minor fender benders to major crashes … auto accidents happen every hour of the day. Cars disappear from mall parking lots and from driveways. Repairing or replacing your car or truck and covering medical costs can be financially devastating.

Having insurance on your car is not just smart. Most areas need the owner of your vehicle to hold a minimum quantity of car insurance. Driving an uninsured vehicle could get your license revoked or worse.

Auto Insurance Rates

There actually are a handful of simple, painless ways to reduce your car insurance. First, you need to know what your rates are based on.

Whatever you pay for your car insurance depends on many factors. Insurance companies keep records for various groups and compare the accident rates in these groups. Young male drivers tend to have more accidents than other drivers and the insurance companies charge them more for insurance. If your household includes a young man of driving age, your insurance will go around cover him… even if he doesn’t drive your car!

Statistically, has less accidents than others in the same age group, many insurers have become giving reductions in premiums to teenagers who have completed driver’s education courses because that group.

Besides your sex and age, insurers may look at other personal information, including your credit rating; the number of years you possess been driving, your accident record, moving violations on your license, just how much you drive and what you use your car for; your marital status – married drivers tend to have fewer accidents; the accident rates and reports of stolen cars in your neighborhood; your driving record; whether you do have a current vehicle insurance policy; value of your car; how much coverage you choose and how big a deductible you are prepared to pay.

According to a September 2007 report in the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) in the USA, where rates have a tendency to vary from state to state, New Jersey had the very best average cost ($1,184), followed by the District of Columbia ($1,182), New York ($1,122) Massachusetts ($1,113). Compare these automobile insurance rates to Louisiana, where the average hovers around $1,076.

Finding Affordable Car Insurance

Generally, the higher the coverage ( the money the insurer will have to pay if your car is stolen or you are in an accident) – and the lower the deductible (the amount of cash you will have to personally cover for repairs or medical costs) – determines how expensive your insurance payments will probably be.

Be careful, and make sure that you don’t fall below the coverage you require. Comparing cheaper auto insurance rates can merely result in less insurance.

In the event you wind up needing to use it, an insurance policy that has excessive a deductible or really low coverage limits can cost you more. Ask your agent about the minimums you should have, and thoroughly follow those guidelines.

Driving a brand new sports car will cost more for insurance than an older sedan. Some insurers even consider the color of your automobile into account. Red sports car are more likely to be involved in accidents than less flamboyant colors. Honda Accords were popular in 2009 among the most stolen by car thieves. For updated reports on typically the most popular stolen vehicles, check the National Insurance Crime Bureau.

So if you’re searching for a new car, check the insurance premiums before you decide what to buy. In some instances, premiums can cost over car payments!

Taking a driver’s education or safe driving course will probably lower your premiums, especially if you are a male under 25 years old. Installing special locks to prevent theft and safety features to reduce accidental injuries in an accident can also come up with a dent as to what you pay for car insurance. Car poolers and older drivers often be eligible for low mileage rate reductions. When you are researching the costs of different policies, inquire about what reductions each company offers and make sure they are included in your quote when they apply to you.

Shop Around, Compare Rates, Research Prices Again

There are numerous places online the place you compare quotes with no obligation to buy. Try at least three or four different ones to see just what the price range needs to be. Make sure you could add in any rate reductions you qualify for.

If you don’t have the time to use the internet or make calls to various companies, have a professional insurance professional do it to suit your needs. In some instances, the difference between car insurance policies can be over US$1000 each year for the exact same coverage.

Heavy Risk Pools

If you are a fresh driver, are now living in a high risk area or have a poor driving record, you might be assigned to a high risk pool. In this system, every auto insurer in your neighborhood must accept the motorists assigned to it, in the USA. The good side with this is that no one can be denied insurance. However, premiums are substantially higher under assigned risk pools than directly with a private insurance company. You cannot shop around should you be assigned to an insurance company by way of a high risk pool.

An alternative, if you have been told that you are assigned to a high risk pool, is to find an insurance company in your neighborhood that sells specialized non-standard insurance. While these policies are more expensive than lower risk car insurance, they often provide better coverage for a lower price than you will get from the assigned high risk insurance.

To find out more details on the assigned risk pool or non-standard policies in your neighborhood, ask your insurance agent or maybe your local government insurance department.